Doblin: Chris Christie’s version of ‘Viva Las Vegas’

Alfred P. Doblin is the editorial page editor of The Record. Contact him at doblin@northjersey.com. Follow AlfredPDoblin on Twitter.

GOVERNOR Christie went to Las Vegas last week to pay homage to Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire gambling magnate who shovels millions of dollars into Republican campaigns like coins into slot machines. The Vegas event was the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, which is a parve version of CPAC.

Christie, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and John Kasich were among the attendees hoping for a nod and possibly a future donation to a presidential campaign. For Christie, it was an opportunity to show he was back in fighting form. The Christie-commissioned report on the two ongoing scandals touching his administration had been released earlier in the week and – surprise of surprises – exonerated the governor completely from any advance knowledge of access lane closures at the George Washington Bridge or the alleged political shakedown of the mayor of Hoboken.

Vegas Christie was like Vegas Elvis, but not the good years. There were moments of brilliance where it was clear why Christie won reelection resoundingly last year. But then there was the Christie who doesn’t understand that even “The King” became a caricature of himself.

Much already has been written about Christie’s major gaffe during his roughly 40 minutes on stage in Vegas. The governor was describing the profound effect visiting Israel had on him and his family. I don’t know whether Christie was sincere in his comments or playing to his audience, but in fairness to the governor, his referral of the West Bank as the “occupied territories” was more unfortunate than game-changing. This wasn’t as bad as pulling out a bacon-wrapped scallop from his pocket while talking about his love of Jewish culture. But it showed Christie is not ready for foreign policy prime time.

According to Politico, the governor apologized to Adelson for the “occupied territories” remark — something it would be hard to imagine Christie offering to New Jersey residents — which raises the question whether at the end of the day the West Bank is trumped by the bank account.

The governor was at his best when answering an audience question about Sharia law. The subtext of the question was why Christie appointed Sohail Mohammed, an Indian-American and Muslim, to the Superior Court bench. Christie understood that immediately and did not mince words about the ill treatment of Mohammed, who was eventually confirmed by the state Senate.

Christie took a lot of heat for this nomination and showed leadership and courage in choosing Mohammed. In answering the question, the governor cited the offensive line of questioning from some members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee. He did not cite that one prime offender was fellow Republican Sen. Gerald Cardinale of Demarest.

Here was an opportunity for Christie to talk to Jewish Republicans about the dangers of religious discrimination, something Jews in America know all too well. But he did not. Christie did not say that arguments about Muslims on the bench come from the same place as the anti-Semitic practices that were designed to keep Jews out of political power and out of genteel gentile society.

This inability to seize onto a bigger, more philosophical issue may be the game-ender for Christie long-term. He proudly spoke to Adelson’s organization that he is in the political business to win; it’s all about winning. He added if it wasn’t about winning, he would go form a university where nothing gets done. Things do happen at universities – they are incubators of ideas. If they are such useless places, why does Christie mention every chance he gets that his eldest son attends Princeton?

Winning matters to the point that if you can’t win an election, you cannot govern. But if you have nothing to offer once elected, you should not govern. That is the modern American dilemma – a Congress and White House peopled with electable folks short on ideas aside from winning the next election.

Chris Christie ran for governor in 2009 on a platform of ambiguity. His political advisers wanted a campaign short on details and big on Christie personality. Incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine was big on details, but limited when it came to charisma. Christie won that election because voters wanted change and they believed Christie could deliver something different.

Now the governor is floundering below the span of the George Washington Bridge because the same advisers who once promoted a take-charge guy are now promoting a governor who was blindsided by close aides. The current narrative undercuts the old one and in the absence of a public policy agenda, there is nothing much left for Christie to say.

He was never the candidate who would fight discrimination or poverty, or expand health care. He did not campaign on the need for mass transit or infrastructure projects in a densely populated state sandwiched between New York City and Philadelphia. His notable successes at reforming parts of the public employee pension system and teacher tenure policies are the result of timing, not bipartisan leadership; Democrats wanted the same things. What Democrats don’t want – for example, conservative state Supreme Court justices – Christie does not get.

I doubt Christie convinced many people in Las Vegas that he is the Republican who can win in 2016. He has no foreign policy experience. And his claim at being a bipartisan leader is spin.

The rift between him and state Democrats is growing. The governor forged relationships with key Democrats last term, but these were individual alliances, nothing more. And the governor’s recent suggestion that the rivalry between New York and New Jersey interests inside the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would be best resolved, not by reforming the agency but by cleaving it into two, would be proof that when faced with entrenched conflict, he would rather be a divider than a uniter.

In New Jersey, Christie embraces the two-state solution. That probably would go over with the Adelson crowd as well as the bacon-wrapped scallop.